| This week many metro area schools are welcoming brand new students into their classrooms. Unlike Universities, ending their semesters at winter break, K-12 schools end their semesters in a few weeks. All of these new students did not get to finish their semester in their old school. School counselors are left scrambling to see if they can match up classes the students almost completed with classes offered at their new schools, meld in their grades, and try and save their transcripts. This disruption, of course, seems intentional.
 The MNGOP chose to fund this years budget by shifting 40% of school payments until the end of the year, far beyond when they actually need the money. The MNGOP believed taking money from schools was much more palatable than a nominal tax increase on millionaires. The obvious and inevitable result happened again as Vessey Leadership Academy Secondary School closed its doors unexpectedly over the winter break.
As a Charter that leased their facilities, Vessey has no collateral to secure a loan. A loan they needed because the state was withholding 40% of their funds. The Charter's only other option was to "sell" their holdback money to the educational equivalent of a PayDay lender. You can read more about these Charter School loan sharks here.
When the students left for Christmas break, they fully expected to return on January 3rd. On December 27th, the board of directors decided the school would not re-open, giving the students about a week to find a new school. The board, of course, apologized for this inconvenience. |
